SBC

Raspberry Pi Zero specs, pinout & datasheets

Single-board computer · Raspberry Pi · Released November 2015

The $5 Raspberry Pi: a BCM2835 at 1 GHz with 512 MB of RAM on a 65 × 30 mm board.

Photo: Evan-Amos, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Chip / SoC: Broadcom BCM2835
CPU: Arm1176JZF-S (ARMv6), single core
Clock: 1 GHz
RAM: 512 MB
Storage: microSD card
I/O voltage: 3.3 V
Released: November 2015
Status: In production

Draft entry: these specs were compiled from the linked sources and are waiting for a second check. Spotted a mistake? Use the form at the end of the page.

Specifications

13 specs

Chip / SoC: Broadcom BCM2835^[2]
CPU: Arm1176JZF-S (ARMv6), single core^[3]
Clock: 1 GHz^[7]
RAM: 512 MB^[2]
Storage: microSD card^[2]
GPIO: 40-pin header, unpopulated^[2]
I/O voltage: 3.3 V^[4]
Input voltage: 5 V via micro-USB^[2]
USB: 1 × micro-USB OTG (plus a micro-USB power port)^[2]
Video: Mini HDMI^[2]
Expansion: CSI camera connector from version 1.3^[2]
Dimensions: 65 × 30 mm^[8]
Launch price: US$5^[7]

Can I still use it?

3 platforms

Raspberry Pi OS: Supported^[9]32-bit image; the 64-bit image needs a 64-bit model such as the Pi 3 or later.
Mainline Linux: Supported^[11]A device tree for this board is in the mainline kernel; features may still be missing.
CircuitPython: Supported^[10]

As published by each project, checked weekly. A platform not listed has no published information here, which is not the same as no support.

Datasheets and documents

2 documents

Raspberry Pi hardware documentationGuide
Raspberry Pi Zero reduced schematicsSchematic

Pinout

40 pins

Raspberry Pi 40-pin GPIO header^[4]. Header unpopulated: solder pins or buy the WH/with-headers version

Power
Ground
GPIO
Special
Not connected

Pin table (40 pins)

J8 (40-pin GPIO)
Pin	Label	Kind	Functions
1	3V3	Power
2	5V	Power
3	GPIO2	GPIO	I2C1 SDA
4	5V	Power
5	GPIO3	GPIO	I2C1 SCL
6	GND	Ground
7	GPIO4	GPIO	GPCLK0
8	GPIO14	GPIO	UART TXD
9	GND	Ground
10	GPIO15	GPIO	UART RXD
11	GPIO17	GPIO
12	GPIO18	GPIO	PCM CLK, PWM0
13	GPIO27	GPIO
14	GND	Ground
15	GPIO22	GPIO
16	GPIO23	GPIO
17	3V3	Power
18	GPIO24	GPIO
19	GPIO10	GPIO	SPI0 MOSI
20	GND	Ground
21	GPIO9	GPIO	SPI0 MISO
22	GPIO25	GPIO
23	GPIO11	GPIO	SPI0 SCLK
24	GPIO8	GPIO	SPI0 CE0
25	GND	Ground
26	GPIO7	GPIO	SPI0 CE1
27	ID_SD	Special	GPIO0, HAT EEPROM I2C SDA
28	ID_SC	Special	GPIO1, HAT EEPROM I2C SCL
29	GPIO5	GPIO
30	GND	Ground
31	GPIO6	GPIO
32	GPIO12	GPIO	PWM0
33	GPIO13	GPIO	PWM1
34	GND	Ground
35	GPIO19	GPIO	PCM FS, SPI1 MISO
36	GPIO16	GPIO	SPI1 CE2
37	GPIO26	GPIO
38	GPIO20	GPIO	PCM DIN, SPI1 MOSI
39	GND	Ground
40	GPIO21	GPIO	PCM DOUT, SPI1 SCLK

Gotchas

3 known issues

Mini HDMI and micro-USB OTG. You need a mini-HDMI adapter and a USB OTG adapter (or hub) to connect a screen and a keyboard.^[2]
3.3 V only. The GPIO pins are 3.3 V. Do not connect 5 V signals or components to them.^[4]
Little current per pin. Each GPIO pin can supply up to about 16 mA and all pins together about 50 mA; drive motors and other loads through a transistor or driver board.^[5]

What changed

From the specs

Next came the Raspberry Pi Zero W

Spec	Raspberry Pi Zero	Raspberry Pi Zero W
GPIO	40-pin header, unpopulated	40-pin header (pre-soldered on the WH)
Wireless	—	2.4 GHz 802.11n Wi-Fi; Bluetooth 4.1 and BLE
Expansion	CSI camera connector from version 1.3	CSI camera connector
Launch price	US$5	US$10

Power and battery

3 facts

Recommended supply: 1.2 A^[5]
USB peripheral budget: Limited only by the supply, board and connector ratings^[5]
Typical bare-board draw: 100 mA^[5]

Revisions

2 revisions

Version 1.2: November 2015: Launch version, no camera connector.^[2]
Version 1.3: May 2016: Added the 22-pin CSI camera connector.^[2]

History and use today

Editorial

History

Given away on the cover of The MagPi magazine on launch day in November 2015, the Zero shrank a full Linux computer to 65 × 30 mm at $5.^[7]

Still useful for

Excellent for low-power, single-purpose builds; for anything networked, the Zero W or Zero 2 W saves a USB adapter.

Projects from the archive

5 builds

Sources

11 sources

Spotted a mistake?

Reviewed by hand

Every report is read by a person and checked against a source before anything changes. Please link one if you have it.

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